Vespertines
Vespertines is an urban fantasy/romance interactive fiction about demons and found family. You play as a human working at a bar for demons, getting to know your customers and collecting their stories.
The story
On the run from your past, you find yourself in a new city with no plan and nowhere to go. A mysterious individual called Ashheart appears before you and refers you to a bar called ‘Vespertines’. You expect the usual; cleaning up spills and handling drunk customers. What you do not expect is for your new boss to be a horned demon known as Gremory who collects stories as payment instead of money.
Features
Customisable main character, including customisable:
- Name
- Gender - male, female, trans and nonbinary options available
- Pronouns - preset or choose your own
- Appearance
- Backstory - one of three planned routes which unlock unique dialogue and story beats within the game
Develop your relationships with the characters - will you be friends, family, enemies or lovers?
Optional romance routes for both Gremory and Ashheart (both gender customisable), as well as a poly romance route.
Diverse story branches and multiple endings!
Romance Options
The Omen: Ashheart
Gender selectable (m/f/nb)
Black eyes, ash heart. Ash appears before you when you are at your most troubled. Their smile is quick and bright and they laugh just as easily. Adventurous, charming and quick-witted, you find yourself swept up in their pace, even if part of you knows it might be better to keep your distance.
The Story Collector: Gremory
Gender selectable (m/f/nb)
The owner of the bar and your new boss. Goat-footed and ram-horned. Stern and taciturn, they are difficult to get to know, but when they listen to their customer’s stories you can see their edges soften. They are honourable, but also bound by forces you do not understand. And sometimes, when they think you are not watching, it is clear they struggle against something dark within themselves.
Status | In development |
Platforms | HTML5 |
Rating | Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars (319 total ratings) |
Author | Monday |
Genre | Interactive Fiction |
Tags | Fantasy, Indie, LGBT, Magical Realism, Narrative, Romance, Text based, Twine, urban-fantasy |
Average session | About a half-hour |
Languages | English |
Inputs | Mouse, Touchscreen, Smartphone |
Accessibility | Configurable controls, One button |
Development log
- Dev log April 2 2023Apr 02, 2023
- Dev log July 30 2022Jul 30, 2022
Comments
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Hopefully this game isn't abandoned... the devs Tumblr says there on hiatus so hopefully they'll come back to this!
This was my favorite IF, makes me so sad that it has been abandoned
I think it's safe to say this IF isn't going to get an update
aww man 😭. Wish I saw this before I read it.
This isn't abandoned...isn't it?
hesitating to start this because it seems abandoned.... i don't really want to add another abandoned IF to my list...
Let's still have some hope! Does anyone have the author's Tumblr?
author's tumblr is @mondaysandwich !<3
Ty :>
The cover with Ash got me clicking the page and got hooked. Loving Ash and Grem already and with all the intrigue surrounding them and MC, totally looking forward to the update! I wonder how a romanced Ash would play out though 👀
Loved this, and I hope to see more if the dev is able to get back into it.
That was a very pretty piece of writing. Your descriptions are rather lovely. Thank you for sharing this. And thank you for letting me play a character with so many options. They were very soothing to design.
i really like this game and I hope I get to play the full version on web for free
OMG! I was just lying around and I remembered this game! It took me a while to find it, but it was definitely worth it! I can't wait until more is out!
P.S: i found this through the Goncharov game jam like, last year lol
I love the characters and the way you had wrote them. I played this game last year and I still can't get it out of my head!! im looking forwad to play the whole story someday > < )o ₊˚⊹♡
really interested in seeing where this goes! the setup with the mc is really good + seems there are a ton of mysterious circumstances going on. looking forward to reading more! 💜
I love this story. I've very recently gotten into interactive fiction games and this is one of my faves so far. I love that I can play an explicitly trans MC, Ash is swoony, Grem is very sweet, and the mystery about the MC's past is intriguing. Definitely following for further updates.
Well-written with likeable characters. There are some errors and bugs, but nothing game-breaking. An enjoyable and captivating demo; excited to see more!
I loved the interactive aspect of the story, how much detail you can put into the world building without making it heavy, but most of all, I'm really invested in the story... I played this the first time MONTHS ago and from time to time it still pops in my head and I'm dead curious to see how your story goes, it's really captivating. Hope you're doing okay <3
Omg I love this and ash and Gremory My fav husbands >3> and fact you can have them both in a Poly relationship >w< YESS!! \o/
Such wonderful characters, I love Ash and Grim so much ♥️ I'm looking forward to read more 😃
It's perfect! Really looking forward to more!!
AHH I got so sad when I saw it was the enddd
Can’t wait for more!! :D
Love what you wrote do far! Excited for more :D
The game is really good, I can't wait for the continuation (≧∇≦)/ no pressure tho :v
Your work is amazing(♥_♥) and I'm falling in love with it :v
Incredibly cute
LOVE THIS GAME SOOO MUCH!!!! also, is there a discord where i can check updates? <3
There is a discord :) link is here: https://discord.gg/ra3mpytzQq
Thank you for your kind words!
Is there any news? Looking forward to updates
you've characterized them so well! i am excited to play the whole story
A VERY GOOD GAME, I love how Gremory character was described as well as Ashheart personality, both of them are literally the definition of the perfect duo (kinda reminds me of me and my friend ><)
There hasn't been an update in so long. Is this game still in development?
Yes, the game is still in development :). Devlogs will resume in February.
Okay! Great, thanks for letting me know :)
When 🥺
I played this demo in October, and I think about the story and characters frequently since then. It drew me in almost right away, and when I met Ash and then Gremory I knew I loved it!
Also, thank you so much for giving us the chance to give the MC have a disability aid! I'm disabled myself, and it made me so happy to make a character who was also disabled!
That was so good I'm already in love with Gremory and Ashheart now to anxiously wait for the next chapter
That was great! I'm already in love with Gremory(・∀・)
Ne...e...d... M....or...e of this masterpiece ✨
the story has just begun and my heart already belongs to Ash...
Ahhhh I love the ROs!!
The story is so interesting, I need more ;_;
i did not scroll down so i was just as shocked as the mc when the horns got revealed cant wait for more 😩 😩
When meeting Ash I forgot I inputted my name already so when it said my name, I was endlessly surprised
Need more! This is incredible!
Hey, that looks so very interesting already! It seems like it has mystery and nice character relationships dynamic. I'll keep an eye for future updates!
Played on my phone and it worked pretty well, that's good! I'll be looking forward for more. :-D
HELL AND WHISKERS I was getting SO into it just as it came to the end of the demo so far!! I LOVE the writing and the attitudes of the characters, including the MC! The conversations feel super natural (as in, very natural, even when dealing with the supernatural) and I love the personalities of the two friends we've met so far. I really wanna see more!